


Into the Woods

by diavolo



Series: trapped [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Cheolsoo, Cult, Horror, JiHan, Jicheol, M/M, Mystery, Other tags might be added, Porn With Plot, Pyschological Horror, Secrets, Smut, Thriller, jeongcheol - Freeform, other idols might be used to fill spaces, part one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24104476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diavolo/pseuds/diavolo
Summary: Seungcheol has heard a lot of stories about the woods that surround the small town he lives in throught his entire life.From ghost stories to wild gossip from the locals, the message was always the same:Stay away from the woods.And he really did... until he didn't.
Relationships: Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Lee Jihoon | Woozi, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Yoon Jeonghan
Series: trapped [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739161
Kudos: 19





	Into the Woods

Seungcheol liked to think of himself as a smart guy. Someone who took the advice his parents gave him, the advice his teachers gave him and the advice his friends gave him. He also liked to think he had a strong gut feeling and that he could trust his instincts to differentiate when situations where dangerous or not.

So, what was he doing wandering in a place he was always told to stay away from? Well, he kind of fucked up.

It started all as a fun thing to do. He was hanging out with some of his friends, being a small-town guy had its ups and downs.

Mostly downs, but he didn’t like being someone who only saw the negative aspects in life. But to point out the most obvious one: they got bored very easily. There was only so much to do in the place he lived and of course, being bored was always the reason they got in so much trouble because his friends always got dumb ideas he followed… he knew he needed to be there, he was the only one who had enough functioning braincells to tell the others when their ideas became too stupid or dangerous.

Even now, being grown enough to be attending college… they just seemed to always be in the middle of doing something stupid in order to be entertained.

The plan they had was simple: discovering if the woods near their town were really haunted.

Of course, a lot of people who lived in that small town were firm believers that something sinister happened inside those thick dense woods. Between the ghost stories, the legends and the rumors he didn’t really knew that to believe but the advice was always the same: stay away from the woods. So, he did.

Until he didn’t.

That day Jonghyun, Baekho and Minhyun got the bright idea to investigate and he followed them, it was thrilling he wasn’t going to lie. He never even got the chance to come closer to the woods, they were outside town, a good hour and a half drive to get there… and so far, the first part of the stories was true.

Before entering the forest there was a ghost village, presumably abandoned because the former residents were too scared of living too close to the woods. Rumor had it that you could hear bloody screams cutting through the silence of the night, people crying for help and other sounds that definitely would make you take your things and move away. If Seungcheol needed to be honest just stepping a foot into the village made a chill run through his spine, giving him goosebumps.

“Hey, come see this” Minhyun shouted, trying to get his friends’ attention.

“What the fuck is that, man?” Jonghyun asked, making a face. He was clearly disgusted, and the reason was obvious.

“Fuck, people are insane” Seungcheol took a deep breath “I guess all of the nearby towns know this is kind of a haunted place and they come here to do their nasty rituals” before them was a pentagram drawn in the cement floor inside one of the empty decaying houses they were investigating. It had what seemed to be blood or red paint all over… he didn’t like wanted to know which one it was.

“We better get out, the smell of this place is making me nauseous” Baekho spoke, already marching towards the door to go out.

It was still fairly early, so the sun made them feel somewhat safe. Until they reached the outskirts of the woods.

“I’ll give one hundred dollars to the one who goes there and stays there for ten minutes” said Jonghyun, daring.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Seungcheol said immediately, he was smart enough to know separating in that place wasn’t something safe to do.

“Are you scared, Choi?” asked Baekho, mockingly, mimicking a chicken, moving his arms up and down as if they were wings “Come on, I’ll throw in one hundred dollars more if you’re the one who does it”

“I’m actually with him, guys, I don’t think that’s a good idea” Minhyun spoke, looking intently at the trees, as if he was trying to find something there, hiding “My mom told me this story… about how one of her classmates got lost and they were never able to find her”

“You don’t actually believe that bullshit, don’t you?” Baekho scoffed, rolling his eyes “Those are just ghost stories to scare children”

“My parents also told me to stay away from this place” Seungcheol said out loud, backing Minhyu’s story up.

“But you’re here, aren’t you?” Baekho bit back, smirking.

Seungcheol took a deep breath “Sorry guys, I’m not going to do it and I’m not letting anybody else do it”

“Pussy” Baehko scoffed again, shrugging.

“I’m just not taking any chances, I still remember that kid who disappeared a couple of years ago, that one from two towns over who seemingly was just taking a walk around and was never seen again” Seungcheol was the one who shrugged this time.

“Ah, I still remember him too” Minhyun nodded, the story was chilling. The kid was their age, going through high school just like them and they never found him, not even his body.

“We better get going, before the people who like to draw pentagrams on the floor come” Seungcheol turned around and started walking towards the car, parked just a few meters away.

Then they heard it.

“Help!”

Seungcheol turned around and looked at his friends, who looked back at him all of them scared. A chill went down his spine and he froze, not really knowing what to do.

“Help!”

“Let’s go guys” Minhyung started booking it towards the car, ready to leave that fucking place.

“Wait” Seungcheol said, just as his friend passed by his side “What if someone really needs help?” he asked, genuinely concerned. At least equally concerned as he was scared.

“Fuck it, bro, I’m not helping anyone, I’m leaving” Baehko was also making his way to the car, ready to leave. There was no way in hell he was going inside the woods to help someone he didn’t even know if was real. At least the legends he heard mentioned seeing and hearing things that were not actually there and becoming insane to the point where you just became crazy.

Seungcheol stood there, looking at the thickness of the forest before him and swallowed thick, walking towards it.

“Are you fucking insane? Let’s go Seungcheol” Jonghyun took him by the forearm before he could get any closer and shook his head, genuinely concerned. He knew his friend too well and he knew he was going to try and save whoever was screaming for help.

“But what if─”

“No”

“I’m just going to take a quick look, if we can hear that person screaming for help it means it’s close, if I don’t see anything I’ll just come back, alright?” Seungcheol shook off his friend arm and kept walking. He was trying to be brave and do the right thing, but damn… it didn’t make it any less scary.

He walked through a couple of thickets, passing one, two, three, four trees. He looked around, it wasn’t that dense yet, but he could easily tell that if he kept walking it’ll became more and more forested.

“Do you see anyone?” Jonghyun yelled, keeping his distance but still worried.

“No, not a thing” Seungcheol yelled back, still trying to see further than the trees allowed him to “I’m just going to walk a bit more, alright? I’ll be out in less than two minutes” he said, out loud, already making his way deep into the woods.

But two minutes passed, and he wasn’t out.

“Hello?” Seungcheol asked out loud, trying to find the person who was screaming just a couple of minutes before “Are you hurt? We can help you”

No replies.

He sighed and decided it was time to head back, maybe it was someone pulling a prank on them. At least he tried, he was not going to feel bad later at the thought of someone needed help and him not trying.

Seungcheol turned around and started walking towards his friends, same path he took to get inside… but suddenly it all looked the same. He looked up, barely any sunlight came through the thickness of the trees and he started feeling uneasy. How much time did he spent there? It felt like ages now, maybe it wasn’t more than five minutes… but was it really that? It felt much darker than before, he couldn’t even verify the time because the had left his cellphone inside Jonghyun’s car, fuck.

“Hello? Guys?” He yelled, trying to see if the others answered “Guys?” this time he shouted, but nothing.

Fuck.

Slowly, all the stories started he heard though his entire life came to his mind, one by one. The witches that lived inside the forest, the ghosts of the people who wandered inside it and never came out, the goblins who guarded their treasures apprehensively, the mysterious deaths that occurred nearby and of course, the screams that could be heard in the middle of the night as if someone was being murdered.

Goddamn it, he was an idiot.

He suddenly felt pure dread traveling through his body and he started shaking a little, genuinely scared. And with that, he started running with no direction, just eager to get out of that place, anxious, skipping over fallen trees. What was he going to do if he was never able to get out of that place?

Seungcheol stopped, panting. He had been running for at least fifteen minutes and he could now genuinely tell he was lost; he had not idea where he came from or where he could leave, it almost made him cry.

“Help!” He yelled, in despair “Help me!” he yelled again, but it was useless. No one could hear him and that meant no one was going to come save him “Guys please, I’m counting on you” he said to himself, really wishing for his three friends to make it all the way to their town to ask for help.

He couldn’t lose hope even when at the back of his head he knew how all the people who got lost in there ended. He needed to stay hopeful that someone was going to come and find him, he just needed to stay there, not move any further.

Seungcheol sat down and rested his head and back on a tree, hugging his thighs close to his chest. It was getting late; he could tell because crickets and bugs were now making all sorts of sounds. Also, the air seemed to get thicker… fog taking over the place slowly, creeping little by little until it swallowed the entirety of the place. He closed his eyes; everything was going to be fine.

The sound of light footsteps approaching made Seungcheol’s heart start beating faster, but he didn’t move even though he knew something was wrong, all the animal sound suddenly stopped and he knew exactly why: it meant something scared them enough to make them stop. Now, it could mean there was a predator near or that something really fucking sinister was about to happen. Either way he didn’t move, he couldn’t.

Frozen in place he kept his eyes tightly closed and he could hear the footsteps closer and closer to him. Then, soft whispers started going around, he could hear them literally everywhere, all over the place.

“Seungcheol” a soft whisper to his ear sent chills down his spine.

He stood up and started running, scared enough to decide he wasn’t about to stay there for the witches, demons or ghosts to kill him. Feeling his heart in his mouth, running as fast as his legs allowed him to, dodging and ducking trees and branches, Seungcheol stopped only when he realized he could no longer see where he was stepping. So, he stopped there, in complete darkness.

“Seungcheol” he heard again, along with giggling.

He walked backwards, turning his face left and right, trying to adjust his eyes to the darkness to see where else he could run but he knew he was screwed. He couldn’t even tell if hearing his name was real or a hallucination of his severely scared mind playing tricks on him. He sobbed, desperate, and turned around to start running again, with that feeling of someone ready to grab him by behind.

In the darkness he was able to see some light ahead, so he quickly started chasing that small hope of being found sooner than later. “Help!” he yelled, moving his hands up and down at each side of his body, without stopping “Help me, please!”

Just a couple of feet away in some sort of clearing he was able to spot, what seemed like a big house, dimly lit by some sort of campfire at one side of it.

“Help me!” He yelled, feeling somewhat saved.

“Seungcheol?” someone called him from behind and he foolishly looked back because it sounded just like Minhyun.

Nothing but complete darkness. He looked back at the path he was running and before he could dodge it, he crashed into a tree so hard he fell onto his back.

He grunted and touched his forehead, trying to look at his fingers through the dark. They felt wet and it could only mean one thing: he was bleeding. Suddenly everything was blurry, and he felt dizzy, he couldn’t even roll to one of his sides.

And with that he fainted.


End file.
